One Voice

       WOW. How amazing is our Father in Heaven? Words can’t even describe how grateful I am right now. I am so grateful everything is okay. Love you Ty! SO scary! But you’re right mom. Maybe we´ll never get an answer as to why things happen, but He knows. As hard as it is sometimes to trust in Him, sometimes it´s all we can do. It´s so hard to be in the mission during a time like this, but I know there´s not another place God would rather have me be. There’s nothing more I’d love to do than give you a HUGE hug right now, Ty, but just know I’m praying like crazy for you! You’re so strong. Our family is so blessed! 

       As for my week, since Monday I just felt worried, and I didn’t even know why. It didn’t help when Tuesday a Hermana came up to me and asked if I was okay and when I said, “Oh yeah, everything´s great,” she was like, "Well I had a dream about you that someone in your family died and I have been worried about you this week." WHAT?! Seriously? Haha so since Monday I just knew something had happened and just felt worried alllllll week. Good to know her dream didn’t come true though sheesh ;) But yes, I just had the strangest feeling all week, but am so grateful. 

       EDWARD SE BAUTIZÓ!! Saturday was his baptism, and Sunday he was confirmed :) As much as I love love love baptisms, this one had its stress haha. Nobody was in the church when we showed up. So we ended up hurrying and cleaning the room and the font and filling it and everything, when finally everyone showed up at 5:45.... 15 minutes before the baptism. Gotta love punctuality in Perú... Sometimes I wonder if they have watches? It was great though :) The spirit was so strong. The Bishop baptized him, and it was just great. He has made SO many changes in his life. I mean, remember when he was calling, asking us out on dates? Yeah...He´s come a long ways haha. He can be such a great example for his family and friends. It all starts with one person.

       I did have my share of embarrassment with him this week though. Okay so we had his final lesson before his baptism and we´re about to leave and a member, Isabel, says, "Here is where you´ll find your exaltation!" And then I go "Exactly! That is why we´re here. That´s our purpose here with you." Yeah... when she said "Exaltation" she meant his wife. She could've filled me in on that little detail! She explained to me afterwards that she said that because he can’t receive his exaltation unless he gets married in the temple. Good one, Hermana Roper. Good one. I’m pretty sure he thinks I'm here to be his wife now... Awesome. 

       We also have Richard that is getting baptized the 1st of February. I challenged him to baptism and everything went dead silent, and he was just staring at the ground for what felt like ten minutes and then said, "Yeah. I want to get baptized." WOOOO! This week we´re teaching the Word of Wisdom though so I´ll keep ya updated on that one ;)

       This week we also had a Reunión de Hermanas and I LOVE them! It´s so good to spend a day with all the Sisters in the mission :) Me, Hermana Boone, and Hermana Escalante sang a song called, "One Voice." Love that song! Not sure who it´s by, but it says something like "I am just one voice, but one voice can carry far" and I just love that. We´re all just one voice, but we can do so much. Jesus Christ was only one voice, and just look at all the miracles he performed. Yes, we´re just one voice, but gosh darn it we´re gonna be heard! 

       Hmm let´s see what else happened this week... Oh! I ate pig. Oh. My. Gosh. One of the biggest rules in the mission is that we don’t eat pig!! We ate at a member’s house and her husband walks in, starts eating and says, "Oh que rico, que es?" And his wife is all, "Chancho." Hermana Arce looked at me with the most scared face haha. We had already finished! Everyone else had chicken, except for us and her husband! But don’t worry :) I’m still alive :) 

       Also... There are SO many cockroaches here! They give me the creeps. They’re huge. I’m bringing some home for you all. I’m gonna start a collection. 

And...Drum roll please...The best part of the week!! We had FHE last night and one of the girls asked me, "You’re from Brazil, right?" I just started laughing thinking she was kidding. Nope! She really thought I was from Brazil! And this was after we taught the whole lesson so guess what that means?! She didn’t notice my lack of Spanish!! I was super happy about that :) 

       Welp. That’s about all I can think of for now. The heat is still killer, yes, but tell Aunt Sharon thank you for the little package :) We´ve been using those little neck coolers all week! Also I received tonssss of letters this week from everyone in the ward. Thank you SO much! I’m so blessed to have so much support. 

       Well, familia. Please don’t have another stressful, crazy week. And Tyson...Be careful! Your nice big hug will have to wait a little bit longer, but you’ll get it sooner or later :) I’m honestly so amazed at how blessed our family is. Heavenly Father has been so good to us. I know he has given us this experience to bring us closer to Him. Sometimes, like you said mom, he needs to let us know who´s in charge haha. Love you all so much! I don’t even know how to express how much I love you all. Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Roper